Europcar revenues rise but Group announces net loss
Car rental firm Europcar made a net loss of €27 billion during the first half of the year despite a 10% increase to €1.03 billion.
It said the loss was due to one-off restructuring costs and transformational fees related to its recent acquistions.
Europcar’s latest acquisitions include Buchbinder in May and Goldcar in June. "The integration of these two highly compatible businesses into the Europcar Group will not only create a major player in the low cost segment but is also expected to deliver significant cost and revenue synergies for the Group as a whole," added Parot.
"These game changing transactions also confirm the major role we want to play in our industry’s European consolidation process."
CEO Caroline Parot said: "We delivered a solid set of operational and financial results for the first half of 2017 with a good operational performance across all of our corporate countries and three major business units which resulted in a strong double digit growth in both revenue and corporate operating free cash flow for the Group.
"During this first half, Europcar also significantly stepped up the pace of its acquisition momentum and is now in a position to have completed the bulk of its 2020 ambition in terms of acquisitions."
The company revealed that it had made a provision of €44 million in its financial account for the first half of the year due to an ongoing investigation by Leicester City Council Trading Standards Services into repair costs levied by Europcar UK.
"The Europcar Group has launched a thorough investigation into the matter and Europcar UK is fully cooperating with the authorities," it added.
"Europcar will continue to communicate as appropriate as matters develop."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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